Sunday, 24 March 2013

With spring hard on here in the valley, many of us turn to gardening. While I am the furthest thing from an outdoor gardener you could imagine, I've been working on my garden throughout the winter. In order to get it ready for a show in Canmore at Sunny Raven Gallery this coming summer, I actually started it last fall.

I first spent some hours getting the right colours for the grass, and interspersing the blades between the pages of a disused law text (I was gifted a couple of dozen of these books some years ago now, and they've been a delight in the studio as well as to my students).

Layer upon layer of 'grasses ' interspersed between the book pages

Once the grass was thickly planted on three sides of the book, I started coring . . . and boring . . .

Starting to core the book

and occasionally gnawing with my teeth, to clear out the centre of the book.

More coring - messy abounds!

Finally it was time to make those flower beds, and while I ultimately only used two in the garden, it's not so bad to have a spare bed in the house.

Creating the flower beds

A garden sign and additional grass finished off the top of the book, along with a tiny birdhouse that the resident carpenter, John, made for it.

Cover of the finished book

All my flowers are tucked away in the garden, safe from all the rougher elements and cozy in all seasons.